SAN FRANCISCO / Home Depot debate / Bernal Heights divided before vote to allow big retailer in area

Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Monday, July 25, 2005

Photo: Lance Iversen

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HOMEDEPOT_0002.JPG_
The proposed Homedepot site, at the end of Cortland on Bayshore blvd. The old Goodman lumber store. A nearly 10-year struggle to bring the first Home Depot to San Francisco may finally be coming to a close. The big box store loathed by Bernal Heights residents who say it will change the flavor of their quiet neighborhood and put smaller competitors out of business goes before the city�s planning commission next Thursday for approval. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. less

HOMEDEPOT_0002.JPG_
The proposed Homedepot site, at the end of Cortland on Bayshore blvd. The old Goodman lumber store. A nearly 10-year struggle to bring the first Home Depot to San Francisco may finally be ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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HOMEDEPOT_0051.JPG_
A nearly 10-year struggle to bring the first Home Depot to San Francisco may finally be coming to a close. The big box store loathed by Bernal Heights residents who say it will change the flavor of their quiet neighborhood and put smaller competitors out of business goes before the city�s planning commission next Thursday for approval. Debbie Levy hands out opposition flyers Saturday in the, Bernal Heights neighborhood main drag, Cortland Ave. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. less

HOMEDEPOT_0051.JPG_
A nearly 10-year struggle to bring the first Home Depot to San Francisco may finally be coming to a close. The big box store loathed by Bernal Heights residents who say it will change the ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

SAN FRANCISCO / Home Depot debate / Bernal Heights divided before vote to allow big retailer in area

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The anti-Home Depot sign hanging in the window of the Cole Hardware store in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood has been there so long it is worn and faded.

Nearly a decade has gone by since the battle began over the possibility of opening the first San Francisco Home Depot and, although the years have passed, the divide still runs deep and the emotions high.

San Francisco is not known for its love of big box or chain retailers. After all, city leaders banned large chain stores in North Beach and could run them out of lower Divisadero Street by requiring special permits to open such businesses. To many, Home Depot represents commercial America that will swoop in, quash small businesses and transform the city's free-spirited, independent identity.

"If Home Depot comes, I would bet my last dollar that behind them will come Wal-Mart and everything else," said Liz Linale, a manager at Cole Hardware, a small chain of four local stores. "Once we let big box in, it will have an effect on the rest of us."

But it's a debate that has pitted neighbors against each other and one that is expected to play out in full force this week. Home Depot's proposal to open a two-level, 153,000-square-foot store in an industrial area at the edge of Bayview-Hunters Point that borders on Bernal Heights goes before the city's Planning Commission on Thursday for environmental review and possible approval.

While one side fears it could mean the end to San Francisco charm, others welcome the home improvement giant's promise of convenience, as residents now must drive 15 minutes to Colma if they want the store's hammers and paint. More importantly to many, a Home Depot offers jobs in a community that has few and thousands of dollars in annual taxes for a struggling city.

Home Depot, with headquarters in Atlanta, considered opening stores in Mission Bay and on Pier 80. In 2001, the company was essentially kicked out of Visitation Valley by neighbors who vocally opposed the chain and the Board of Supervisors, which passed legislation banning stores larger than 65,000 square- feet on the selected site. The company settled on the former Goodman's Lumber property on Bayshore Boulevard, where a giant pro-Home Depot sign now hangs.

The store could create 200 new jobs, with 150 of them going to residents of surrounding neighborhoods, and generate nearly $500,000 in property taxes and fees a year, according to Home Depot. Currently, according to the store, city residents spend more than $40 million a year when shopping at the Colma Home Depot -- sales taxes that could go to San Francisco if a store existed there.

Store leaders have met with community groups during the past two years of the environmental review process and, in an effort to alleviate concerns that traffic would clog Bernal Height's narrow streets, it relocated the proposed entrance from Cortland Avenue, Bernal's main drag, to a spot on Bayshore Boulevard.

"I think its going to really enhance that part of San Francisco," said Evette Davis, a Home Depot consultant and spokeswoman for the project. "It's going to be a much needed boon. By no means do I think it spells the end of San Francisco's charm."

But many in quiet Bernal Heights, where families can be seen walking their dogs and congregating in cafes and parks, don't see it that way.

Tony Chrisanthis, owner of Bernal Beast, which sells pet supplies and food and has a washing service, said it would change the character of the neighborhood forever and mean an end to mom-and-pop businesses like his.

"The underlying issue is that this is a big foot putting a step in a city that's mostly for independents," he said.

It's been an uphill battle waged mainly by residents and small business owners against the mammoth retailer. In addition to circulating petitions and hanging anti-Home Depot signs, volunteers have an anti-Home Depot Web site, but they struggle to keep it updated.

"The difference between the money-equals-power and the people-equals- power means that it can be very stark on our side of things," Smooke said.

If opponents lose at the Planning Commission, they promise to appeal to the Board of Supervisors.

"You have to look at Bayshore Boulevard and try not to compare it to Fillmore or Chestnut streets," Home Depot's Davis said. "The project is proposed on a site that used to have two large warehouses. If this proposal were for North Beach, I could understand."

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